I was shopping out of town this week. That is a confession. The item I wanted was not available in Natchitoches. Thus, I made my pilgrimage to Best Buy.

The store had barricades along the front of the store. I inquired about them. They were making preparations for Black Friday. I think I will live long enough to see Black Friday disappear as a specific day. Many department store chains, I think I will live long enough to see many of those vanish too, have started promoting their Pre-Black Friday sales.

So this year, in the spirit of giving, I am giving you my Black Friday bargains. Go ahead and take them. I will not need them. I will shop along Front Street looking for unique gifts for the family. My kids have passed the stage of gifts, and only want gift cards. The grandkids are too young to understand Christmas. I don’t need to hang on to something that is not going to be necessary. So I give to you, my readers, all my bargains.

I do think Black Friday will fade. It will become one of those memories we have of life back when.

Do you remember when the car dealers received their new model year vehicles? They would paper over their windows as they put the new models in the show room. When they were ready to show and sell the new cars, out came the flood lights. The new model reveal day was a big automotive event, even for families who were not buying cars.

Now all the cars look alike. You can’t tell a Ford from a Toyota. Last year’s model looks like next year’s model. I know car dealers are jumping up and down saying, “Not so.” But it is so. There is no longer any excitement about the new models arriving at the dealership. Where are the flood lights? Where is the free pop-corn? Where is the excitement? The concept faded as modes of selling cars changed.

Thanksgiving, I will be thankful for my family, my faith and the freedom I have to opine. Then on Black Friday I will find a comfortable corner of the couch and play with my grandkids. You can shop until you drop if you wish. My question for you is, to what end?

Why are you planning to get up early? What is the motivation to be the first person inside the Walmart sprinting to the on sale television? Why fight the mayhem in the parking lot? Because it is Black Friday and this is what we do?

I remember asking, “Mom why are we looking at new cars?” She said, “This is what we do when the new cars come to town.”

I think Black Friday will collapse because it is part of an old model of enterprise. I give it another decade and we will be talking about that crazy day after Thanksgiving where we lined up to buy things we really didn’t need, nor want. We were simply looking for a bargain. Of course, we introverts hate crowds so maybe Black Friday is all about the extroverts in our midst. Perhaps you like fighting over a
bargain at the “As Seen on TV” aisle. I simply don’t understand the madness of Black Friday. I also think it is a sin we call it the “Christmas shopping season.”

Lord forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who Christmas against us.